Wednesday 10mi: with my best friend C and other friend C. Felt like we were going super fast but maybe we actually weren’t. It was so humid out, just pouring sweat.

Thursday AM Track workout 10mi: 1600, 2×1200, 3×400, 3×200. With C and N. Cooler out today which was nice. All of it felt decent, and it was nice to move quicker than I have in a while (around 86 for the 400s, 39-40 for 200s). The 1200s at just above 6-minute pace did not feel as easy as I would have liked, oh well.

Thursday PM 3.5mi: legs felt terrific.

Friday AM 6mi easy.

Friday PM 3mi easy.

Mayor’s Cup XC

Saturday 6mi easy: strides after.

Sunday Mayor’s Cup XC 5k: slow time of 19:54, which was a big bummer and put in me in a bad mood about running that I have yet to emerge from. I didn’t get any splits during it, and I was pretty shocked by the time. Though I knew I was a bit rusty from having basically not raced all season, I thought I executed the race as I planned to, and assumed that should lead to a decent time instead of a time 35 seconds slower than the last time I ran this race. There are some reasonable explanations for it being a bit slower (very windy, not-great footing, not being race-sharp), but some of it just seems beyond explanation so I’m trying not to think about it too much and move forward.

Sunday PM 2.5mi easy: with C. Leg felt surprisingly good.

Monday 9mi easy: with C, pretty dark out. Felt fine.

Tuesday AM Hill Loop 2: in about 71min, close to my fastest time I think. Didn’t feel like I had much power on the hills but I felt good and loose on the flatter parts and probably ran those faster than I would have with company.

Tuesday PM 3mi easy: felt good, dark out!

Wednesday 10mi easy: with C and C. Felt pretty good. Did a few strides. My hamstring has not been in great shape, but never bad enough to really concern me, so I don’t know what to do for that exactly. Trying the to stretch more.

Thursday AM 7mi easy: with C. Felt good.

Thursday PM 3mi easy: solo, felt decent.

Friday AM Track workout: ran to the track with C and C, and met N there. 1600 in 5:51, 2k float alternating 42s and 52s every 200m, 4×400 in 85-87. Took fairly long rests. Everything felt decent, but none of it felt great. The 400s were, weirdly, the hardest part, and I ended up doing just 4 of them instead of 6.

Friday PM 3mi easy: with friends! At my old college to watch the conference XC championships tomorrow. Legs felt kind of bad.

Saturday 14mi long run: with C, C, and K, friend and former teammate. Pretty hilly run, awesome trails. Didn’t feel that good though, as expected.

Sunday 6.5mi easy: with C, C, and K again. Bailed on the 8 mile hillier run we had planned to just to some easy flat trail loops. Did good hamstring stretching before and after and felt somewhat better than expected.

After the race, I’ve been feeling pretty discouraged about running in general. I’m going to stick with my plan for the next couple of weeks through my half marathon, then think about changing some things up. I’ve been working at it for so long with very little actual improvement that I’m beginning to think I need to change something in order to keep moving in the direction I want to go.

This was a fairly eventful week in my running life, including my first day off from running since June and my Biggest Workout of the training cycle. Overall, I came through it pretty much fine, though I am starting to feel a bit run-down from all the miles. I also don’t think the day off made me feel all that recovered because my mileage all the other days was still as high as an 80 mile week (minus one day).

MondayAM, 10.5mi easy: met a friend and ran on the Charles. Felt good.

Monday PM, 2.5mi easy: legs fine, stomach off.

Tuesday, 9mi with 200s: went for about 5 or 6mi with C, then stopped at the track and did 8x200m in around 42s with 45s jog between. Felt pretty good and was glad these didn’t bother my hamstring.

Wednesday, OFF.

Thursday AM, 9mi easy. With C. I felt fine, but not as good as I thought I should feel after a day off. That always happens…

Thursday PM, 3mi easy. Solo, ended and bought some vegetables.

Friday AM, 8mi easy. With C. Felt good, but thought we were going faster than we were.

Friday PM, 3.5mi easy. Solo. Legs didn’t feel that great.

Post-workout chocolate milk and fun socks.

Saturday, 6.5mi easy. With C and C. Did a bunch of loops and it felt really long. 4 strides after.

Sunday, 17mi Workout: 4-3-2-1. Started off with C and C, about 2.5mi up to the path. Did a couple of light strides and went into 4mi at about 6:35 average. This part felt very good. C also did that first tempo with us then she split off, and it was just [other] C and me for the rest. About 0.5mi jogging into 3mi: first mile was 6:22, which felt good, but then we hit some serious wind, a bunch of sharp turns, and bike path traffic, resulting in the next 2 miles 6:34, 6:30. Disheartening, and I was starting to get pretty tired. Jogged about 0.5mi over to the track and did 2mi (actually 3200m) at 6:19 pace, 4min break with some jogging, and finally a 6:08 to finish it off. The second half of the workout felt pretty rough. Last year when I did it I felt like I was able to tap into an extra gear and finished the last mile with an 89s 400. No such luck this time. Best thing to do is probably just not compare it to last year.

Have you ever wanted to do a long-distance overnight relay race? Have you ever done one? I’ve been intrigued by overnight relays for a while, but only recently had an opportunity to participate in one. With a team of 11 former teammates and friends, I ran the Reach the Beach Ragnar Relay covering approximately 200 miles of New Hampshire roads. During the 24 hours and 44 minutes we were out on the course my experience ranged from weirdly fun to wildly unpleasant.

Now that I am more removed from it, and the extreme soreness in my quads has dissipated, I realize how spectacular the experience was. I highly recommend it to any runner seeking an adventure! But one thing is for certain: with a race involving 12 people per team and covering 200 miles, it would help to know as much about what to expect as you can beforehand! Hopefully, my experiences and the little tips I picked up will help you either decide to do an overnight relay or be better prepared when you do one.Read more >>

Tuesday AM: Hill Loop 2, 10mi–with C. Did this in about 74 minutes, roughly 3 minutes slower than the last few times, which was the goal. I still pushed the hills but tried to keep it more relaxed on the flat parts.

Tuesday PM: 3.5mi easy–beautiful afternoon, feeling good.

A particularly bright socks/shoes combination to make my PM run more exciting.

Wednesday: 10mi easy–with C for most, then ran into C and M and turned and ran a bit with them. Felt tired.

Friday AM: 8x1000m–warmed up with C to meet N at the track. We did the first 4 on a grass looped C mapped out, a flat loop around some baseball diamonds and playgrounds. The grass was wet and my shoes and socks were soaked quickly.

3:50, 3:50, 3:47, 3:46 (60s between)

2:37 jogging/walking

Then we did the next 4×1000 on the track. I wanted to cut down on these, which was successful. I led most, but N led a few.

3:48, 3:45, 3:43, 3:41 (1:30-1:45 between)

Given how hard the 3:4x felt on the track, I think the grass loop was probably a bit short, but close enough. Overall this felt good, a solid workout, and fun to have the company.

Saturday: 8.5mi easy–C and I went to meet C at the appointed time but she wasn’t there so I ran to her apartment to wake her up. We did a nice run in Newton that I don’t do very often. Nice morning, felt kind of tired.

Sunday: 15mi Long Run–first 4 solo, then picked up C, J, and A for some more. Saw a half marathon running along where we were. Pretty cold and rainy but good half marathon weather. Felt tired by the end but not bad.

Total: 79.5mi.

My training has been feeling good. I’m a little disappointed to be going so long without a race but we couldn’t really find any that were a good fit. Hopefully this solid block of training benefits my racing in the long term. I’m trying to start doing core again and making sure to keep up all the rolling I was doing during my hamstring flare-up. On Friday I was reminded of this quotation from What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami:

“And I hope that, over time, as one race follows another, in the end I’ll reach a place I’m content with. Or maybe just catch a glimpse of it.”

Not too long ago, the thought of women running was enough to give everyone the vapors. But trail blazers like Babe Didrickson, Doris Brown, Bobbi Gibbs showed the world that not only could women run, they could run pretty fast and pretty far while keeping their uteri intact. We may laugh now about the sheer absurdity of these misconceptions, but there are still instances where women run shorter distances than men. This is particularly the case when it comes cross country racing at all levels.

It seems unlikely that members of the NCAA, USATF or IAAF think women are less capable. Women compete in the same distances as men in all types of major national and international running competition aside from cross country on the track, roads, and trails. If that is the case, why are women running shorter distances than men in cross country?

Tuesday PM: 4mi–easy with C. We both felt like we were sprinting even though it was like 8min pace.

Wednesday: 10.5mi–easy. Met a friend from my college and the Reach the Beach team (whose name also starts with C). Felt good, good pace.

Thursday AM: 7mi–easy, with C. A few strides after.

Thursday PM: 3mi–easy.

Friday AM: 4mi tempo, 6×800. Met college (and Reach the Beach) teammate N, did 4mi tempo on the path by the Charles with her and C (6:15, 6:27, 6:27, 6:20). Aiming for 6:25-30, so we went a bit under. It felt good, able to talk a bit for the first 2.5mi or so. Faster than the first 4mi of the Lone Gull 10k last weekend! C went home and N and I did 6×800 on the track, all in about 3:02ish. Kind of windy for these. Solid work.

Saturday: 7mi–easy, with C. Felt good again! Raining, cold, saw some high school XC teams working out. Like 7:30 pace. Had a ton of fun.

Sunday: 15mi–Long Run. With C, C, N, M–big crew! There was a big breast cancer walk going on so we had to do a lot of dodging and weaving at times. I felt pretty tired for the last few miles, but overall good.

Total: 80.5mi.

This was my highest weekly mileage total to date. Glad I came through it feeling good, with a good (and fun) workout in there. Going for a few more solid training weeks before the next race. I’ve been enjoying running a lot lately, working on translating my belief in my training into something I can use in races.

9/13: 9mi Track–12x400m. I did these in two sets of 6, taking 60s jog between reps and 400m jog between sets. The first set was 86-87 and the second set was around 85. I didn’t feel very in control of the pace. It didn’t feel extremely difficult but the times seemed to fluctuate a decent amount without me feeling like I could do anything about it. My left hamstring got messed up from this too.

9/13 PM: 3mi easy

9/14: 8mi easy, solo. Felt fine but my hamstring hurt.

9/15 AM: 5mi–easy, with C. Concerned that my hamstring still felt messed up from those silly 400s.

9/15 PM: 2.5mi–easy, solo.

9/16: 8.5mi–Reach the Beach Relay (first leg: 6.8mi).

In NH for a 203 mile relay with a team of 11 former college teammates and friends. This leg took place around 7pm. It was completely dark by about 10min in and I wore a headlamp and reflective vest. I covered this somewhat hilly route at about 6:22 pace, and finished feeling not too exhausted, though a bit worried about how my hamstring would hold up.

9/17: 9mi–Reach the Beach (second leg: 8.5mi).

4am. Kind of a cool experience running in the dark on rural roads. I passed a lot of people on this leg who were going quite slowly or walking. This leg was brutally hilly, and I covered it in about 6:50 pace. My hamstrings and quads felt absolutely shot after this, especially my slightly injured left hamstring, and I worried about being able to complete the third leg.

9/17: 4.5mi–Reach the Beach (third leg: 4.1mi).

I did a lot of rolling and brief spurts of light jogging between second and third leg and the soreness mostly abated, to be replaced by general exhaustion and crappy feeling. My third leg was around 1pm, fairly flat, and covered in 6:42 pace. Very glad to be done. Climbing into the van after was a challenge. We were the first women’s team! More on this later…

9/18: 1mi–easy, around the block with best friend C. Very sore, mostly hamstrings and quads. We could barely run so it was kind of funny.

Total: 60mi

9/19 AM: 4mi–easy, very sore.

9/19 PM: 3mi–easy, feeling somewhat less sore.

9/20: 7mi–easy, with C and C. Felt pretty good, almost recovered, but it turned out we were running like 8:45 pace, which was a lot slower than I would have guessed, so I was probably still pretty wiped out.

9/21: 10mi–easy, mostly with C and C. Felt nearly recovered but we still ran a slower pace than I thought.

9/22 AM: 9mi Track–2×1000, 2×800, 2×600. C ran me to the track and watched/cheered/took splits. I took 75sec jog between everything. Aimed to start around 6:15 pace for the 1000s and work down to 6:00 pace by the end. Hit all the times I wanted to, and while the workout was not amazing (nor was it intended to be), I felt much more recovered from Reach the Beach than I’d imagined I would feel on Monday and Tuesday.

3:52, 3:52

3:03, 3:02

2:14, 2:14

9/22 PM: 3mi–easy, good. Felt a sore throat coming on.

9/23 AM: 8mi–easy with C. Felt good at the beginning but my legs were starting to be pretty tired by the end. I was not feeling great, getting a cold, so I bailed on my planned 3mi in the afternoon.

9/24: 7mi–easy with C and C. I felt good enough on the run but tired and crappy the rest of the day.

9/25: Lone Gull 10k (11.5mi). 40:05 or something like that, with splits of 6:18, 6:31, 6:21, 6:31, 6:25, 6:31, 1:xx. I was barely able to sleep the night before due to my cold, I actually woke up once every hour or maybe more. Head and neck hurt a lot when I woke up but I didn’t have a fever and C convinced me (though he really wanted to get back in bed) that I would regret it if I didn’t even try. I agree with that, and I’m glad I gave it a try, but that’s about the only thing I’m glad about. The race felt semi-regular race-hard–except that it was 10+ seconds/mile slower than I would hope to run under normal circumstances so hearing the splits was unpleasant. Bad timing on this one, that I was sick and a week after Reach the Beach. I’m going to try not to worry about this one and recover from the cold as soon as possible.

Total: 62.5miA lower mileage 2 weeks, with Reach the Beach, recovery from Reach the Beach, a cold, and another race. I’m hoping to be totally recovered soon and back to some more intense training for a long block with no races. Though I was pretty pleased with where my fitness seemed to be at Reach the Beach, the sickness and the very slow 10k left me mulling over some Big Doubts about my training.

Despite the occasional 90 degree day here in Boston, it’s starting to feel like fall. Longer nights, cooler mornings, and the scent of decaying leaves make me think of one thing: cross country. Like many people who started running in high school, cross country was my first exposure to the sport of running. The sounds and smells of fall invariably bring me back to that first exhilarating season, toeing the line next to some of the coolest, nicest, most bad-ass girls I had ever met. Through cross country I discovered the joy of racing and learned what it is to train seriously and, although I don’t have the opportunity to race cross country often now as a non-club-affiliated post-collegiate, it remains my favorite running event. I miss it.

This season, I’m planning to run in a couple of cross country races and I think you should too. Why, you ask?

Monday PM: 3mi easy–solo. Misty and windy out. Put this run off for way too long.

Tuesday: 8.5mi easy–with C and C again, and felt great again.

Wednesday: 10.5mi track workout–2x3200m, 2x800m. C did the whole thing with me and paced most of it. Planned on 3200 at HM pace, 3200 at 10k pace, 2×800 at 5k pace, taking 2min jog between everything. More like “date pace” than PR pace, but I was still nervous about the 3200 at 10k pace because it seemed pretty long, especially on a track. Ended up running 12:55, 12:29, 2:58, 2:56. Negative split on the 800s, which felt really good. It rained a bit during and the track got slippery.

Sunday: 15mi Long Run–with C for about 11mi, then I split off and did about 3mi at 6:45 pace. Felt tired to begin but during the uptempo bit my legs felt pretty good.

Total: 78mi.

Solid mileage and a good workout on Wednesday. Feeling encouraged about my fitness level though not at all sure where I’d be in a race since it’s been a while. Next week I will run a bit less mileage and on Friday-Saturday will be competing in Reach the Beach relay with a team of (mostly) former teammates.

Monday AM: 3mi–easy loop. Last morning of camping. Took a nice dip in the river after.

Post-run swim in the river.

Monday PM: 6mi–easy with C. After driving back to Boston. Felt decent, though it was sort of hot out.

Tuesday: 11.5mi–workout. Solo workout involving 4mi tempo at a tad under 6:40 pace, then 5min of jogging to the track, then 4×800 in 3:08, 3:06, 3:08, 3:03 with 60s jog recovery. Felt decent but kind of tired given the paces were sort of slow for me. Maybe having just gotten back from vacation it was wise not to do anything too tough.

Wednesday AM: 9mi–easy with C and the new Garmin he got me for my birthday. I made us go fast because I kept checking the watch and I wanted it to say we were going fast.

Wednesday PM: 4mi–easy. Saw a bunch of mildly famous runners.

Thursday AM: 7.5mi–easy with C, without the watch. Ran more relaxed.

Thursday PM: 3.5mi–met Ch at her new apartment and ran a bit with her! Felt fairly good.

Friday: 10mi–Hill Loop 2, with C. Felt pretty good, wore the watch which sometimes indicated 6:40 pace but I just don’t really think that’s possible. Came out to about 7:20 average.

Saturday: 15.5mi Long Run–mostly with C. Felt good up until I was dropping C off at about 12.5mi but then an old guy shouted something rude at me and I got angry, which made my legs feel a lot better.

Sunday: 7mi–easy solo. In NH for about 24 hours. This was a nice run and very nice weather but it was fairly hilly. Felt good though.

Total: 77mi.

Overall a good week of mileage and a few solid efforts. Still not feeling that confident about my fitness because I haven’t done much to really push the limits.

Monday: 11mi easy–last day at my parents’ in Wisconsin. Did the first couple miles with my dad then solo. Felt good and got in a few miles on trails by the lake, which was beautiful. Stopped to pick a couple peaches at my old high school.

Tuesday AM: 8mi easy–with C! Good run.Tuesday PM: 3mi easy

Wednesday: 9.5mi track workout–with C. He led some intervals and I led some. 2k, 4x1k, 8x200m, with short rests. The 2k was at 6:30 pace, which felt pretty relaxed; the 1ks at 6:15-6:30 pace, which felt fine; and the 200s all around 43s, during which I got into a good rhythm. The times are all a solid amount slower than other workouts when I look back over my log, but I think some of that is just because we planned it to be slower. If I’d set faster goal paces, I probably could have, within reason.

Thursday: 10mi easy–slow solo 10 in the morning before setting off on our trip to VT! Felt pretty tired.

Friday: 16mi Long Run–14 with C then finished up solo while he drove the car back to the campsite. Felt good, then tired over the last couple miles. Humid out. Nice lake swim after then a relaxed 20mi bike ride. Exhausted by the end of the day.

Saturday: 10mi easy–with C. One of our favorite runs from when we lived here. Felt a bit tired. Ended at the Farmers’ Market and had some good food.

Sunday AM: 4.5mi easy–with C. Tried to do some of the trails in the state park where we were camping but what we tried was either really steep or really technical so we quickly wimped out and ran on the road, which was still hilly. Went for a 6 or 7mi hike after.Sunday PM: 3mi easy–solo, and felt weirdly great. Swimming after.

Total: 75mi. Awesome vacation and I’m happy with the mileage. Looking forward to getting into some workouts that will test my fitness.

8/10 9mi Fartlek–relatively informal solo workout on the Charles. Did 2x7min, 2x4min, 2x1min hard segments, with 3min jogs after the 7s, 90s jogs after the 4s and 60s jogs after the 1s. No real idea on pace, but the 7min segments were not fast and the 1min segments were–or at least felt–very fast.

8/11 8mi easy–w/ C. Very exhausted. Glutes were pretty sore, which I thought was from the pickups before remembering that I did jump lunges with the kids at camp yesterday.

8/12 6.5mi easy–w/ C. Had planned on 8 but I was so tired and had been feeling kind of dizzy and headachy since yesterday morning, so I went a bit shorter. Another hot day.

8/13 16mi Long Run–first 10mi with C then dropped him off at the train to go home while I did some more. Felt decent given how tired I have been feeling, but my stomach was not happy due to eating too much watermelon before this run. Chilled on the couch and watched Olympics for most of the rest of Saturday.

8/14 7mi easy–Went to NH today to hike Mt Monadnock with assorted former teammates. It was fun but hiking is always way harder than I expect it to be and I also got stung by a wasp on my left thigh, which swelled up pretty big and hurt a lot. Anyway, came back and ran 7mi in 95deg weather with J and his teammate. Given the heat, the hike, and all the weird foods I ate all day, I expected to feel horrendous, but actually didn’t feel too bad.

8/16 8mi easy–first 7 with C. My wasp sting from the hike was still very swollen and it was kind of throwing off my whole left leg: quad/hamstring sore and the calf felt sort of tingly. Last day of work.

8/17 AM 10mi–5 mile tempo, with C. I had planned on 6 miles at about 6:30 pace but C suggested 5 at 6:40 and I’m glad I took him up on it because my original plan would have been a struggle. It was hot and humid which made it a grind. Consistently hit 6:40 or a bit under for all the miles but was disappointed by how rough it felt.

8/17 PM 3mi easy–first double in a while. My legs are definitely not used to running in the afternoon but I don’t think they felt especially bad from the tempo.

8/18 8mi easy–in Wisconsin visiting my parents. My mom biked with me on this one. It was fairly hot out since I did this at about 4:30 due to traveling in the morning. My legs didn’t feel great but once I settled in I was running about 7:30 pace anyway.

8/19 16.5mi Long Run–first 27min with dad at a fairly slow pace, then solo. Fun to run with him and I think starting off slow helped me feel better overall. Did a few embedded strides in the last mile. Legs were quite tired the last 20-30min as usual, but good besides that.

8/20 AM 4.5mi easy–with dad. There was a half marathon going on and we ran alongside them for a little bit. It was rainy and cool–my kind of racing weather. I sort of wished I had raced but I don’t think I’m really in shape for that right now.

Saturday PM 4.5mi easy–solo.

8/21 10.5mi easy–first 18min with dad, then alone for a few minutes then mom caught up to me on her bike. Nice to have so much company on this. After 10.5 around the lake dad picked me up at our favorite bakery and we got some great pastries which we ate while watching the men’s marathon.

Total: 75mi.

I think my base fitness is pretty good right now but I’m ready to step it up and get into serious workouts. I feel like my race fitness is way behind where it was last year at this time, which makes sense since last year in mid/late August I had 6 weeks of quality workouts under my belt. Hopefully it will build quickly.

In college, I ran 12 track races that were PRs, most only by a second or two, but over 25 that weren’t. I ran about 10,000 miles in college, including miserable workouts that left me rereading my training log and wondering why I was bothering to put myself through this, terrible long runs where I found myself in the middle of hilly suburbs desperately needing a toilet, but also a lot of amazing, exhilarating runs as well. I went to bed early, ate reasonably healthily, and generally tried to always “live the life,” as my coach would say, but would often wonder if it was worth it.

My point is that running is hard. There are lots of times it inconveniences me or the other people in my life, and there are times at which it is straight-up miserable. But for every reason to quit, I have one reason to keep at it that, so far, beats them all: faith.Read more >>

The perfect race scenario goes something like this: You’re in the middle or at the end of a hard, satisfying training cycle. You’ve had this race on the calendar for a while and now you’re rested up and ready to go. The weather forecast looks great, and you’re prepared to leave it all out on the course, experience a little race day magic, and nail a huge PR.

A lot of the time, though, it doesn’t go that way. Maybe you have a three-mile tempo at 10k pace on your training plan and your school is putting on a 5k this weekend. Maybe you’re on vacation and your whole family is running a road race during your base-building phase. Maybe there’s a half marathon starting a mile from your house and you conveniently have twelve miles at marathon pace in your training plan for that day.

Should you do it? Should you ever hit up a race to do a workout or should you only enter races to race?

Took this week as a down week for mileage, but then ended with my first ever 20 mile run so I didn’t exactly go into the next Monday feeling well-rested.

Monday–6mi easy with C.

Tuesday–7mi easy with C. Felt fine.

Wednesday–8mi Hill Loop 2 solo. Took it pretty relaxed on the flats but fast up the hills, felt good.

Thursday–6mi easy with C. Did “Olympics” with my kids at camp today. We took them to run on the track for the first time last week and they loved it! They also like doing strides. Very cute.

Friday–3mi easy solo and stopped to pick up donuts. Long day field trip today.

Saturday–7mi easy with C. Pretty humid out and felt decent on the run but all day felt so exhausted like I had done a long run even though my mileage has been super low the last few days. Took a nap and hung out on the couch most of the afternoon.

Sunday–20mi! With C and his brother J. Overall very fun, and I felt pretty good … given that it was 20 miles. Tired the last few miles but nothing crazy. This wasn’t really something I felt my training needed, just a number of miles to hit as a challenge. I’m glad I did it but probably won’t run 20 again until I’m training for a marathon.

Total: 57mi.

I’m getting ready to be done with this schedule and luckily next week is the last week. Probably going to throw in a lite workout of some sort next week like a fartlek, and then maybe a tempo the week after.